Pilate, Pragmatism, and Providence

This past Good Friday I reprised my recurring role as Roman Governor of Judea Pontius Pilate for my Anglican parish’s somber Holy Week program, The Way of the Cross. Designed for children to engage with the events of Jesus’ last days, the program welcomed 285 elementary and pre-school aged children, their parents and grandparents for art, Scripture, and a tactile experience at each station.

As children munching on soft pretzels filed into my Party City Praetorium, I welcomed them to my daily audience complete with judgment seat and a host of props (scourging, I informed them, is “not fun”).

I was never a theater kid, so this has always been a bit out of my comfort zone. But, as a character, Pilate resonates with me. He isn’t necessarily the mustache-twirling villain, and I could understand his potential self-perception as a pragmatist, seeking to serve a higher need of preserving order (that’s me in a nutshell). In questioning Jesus, Pilate is seen in the gospels as unconvinced of his guilt (and cautioned by his wife in Matthew 27:19 “Have nothing to do with that righteous man”).

There’s a challenge to me in this: I’m not a person of particularly deep courage, and I have an admitted bias towards conventional wisdom – which is sometimes wrong. I could envision scenarios in which I try to pacify everyone (not possible) and ultimately assent to an injustice because of what I perceive as “the big picture” (i.e. “truthiness”).

From what historic, extra-biblical sources recount, Pilate wasn’t reluctant about crucifixion (Tacitus/Josephus). He likely signed off on hundreds of such executions across his decade as Roman prefect for Judea (Jesus obviously wasn’t the only one being crucified that day). This is why it’s all the more curious that Pilate is both “greatly amazed” at Jesus’ silence in the face of his accusers. He vacillates, attempting to accommodate the mob in other ways, including an offer to release either the innocent Jesus or the murderer Barabbas, and the crowd again calls for Jesus’ execution.

I get it. Pilate is accountable to his superiors in Rome and wants to keep potential rebellion in check. What I try to convey to the children is an emphasis on Jesus’ innocence and, as Pilate washes his hands in Matthew’s gospel, says, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” Just as Adam’s sin is on all of us, Jesus’ sacrifice wipes us clean.

After the gospels, Pilate eventually returns to Italy and falls off of the historical record (Josephus records that he was recalled after the slaughter of a group of Samaritans). The Church Tradition (but not scripture itself) holds that Pilate’s wife, Claudia, enters into the Church. Curiously, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church holds that Pilate himself repents and eventually joins the Church, too, and is martyred. As a western Protestant I must exercise care not to pick-and-choose from Eastern teachings like a buffet line, but I can at least appreciate the Ethiopian tradition’s focus upon Pilate’s potential for redemption.

I won’t know this side of Heaven what was Pilate’s fate. But, I’m aware of my own heart’s capacity for self-deception. I could understand how and why he would rationalize sending just another barely significant non-citizen to his death in appeasement of what appear to be the more pressing demands of the moment.

Wonderfully, we know the story doesn’t end there, and on Holy Saturday at the Great Vigil of Easter the priest sang the Exsultet over us:

“How holy is this night, when wickedness is put to flight, and sin is washed away. It restores innocence to the fallen, and joy to those who mourn. It casts out pride and hatred, and brings peace and concord. How blessed is this night, when earth and heaven are joined and man is reconciled to God.”

It is amazing how God, in his providence, can use someone like Pilate to bring about his will. As the “young citizens” filed out to the next station, dime store laurel crowns in-hand, I exhorted them to pay their taxes and “keep the (camel) trains moving on time.” None of us is the main character, but we can be grateful that each of us are part of God’s big story.

More from IRD :

Walk Through Holy Week Across Church Traditions

Three Movies to Finish Out Lent

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